Freedom in the Eyes of Another
by Oroburos69
Summary: The Wave Mission was a failure. They got caught, captured, taken-it didn't end well. Now Sakura has a half-heard order, uncut fingernails, and more desperation than bravery. One way or another, she's getting Team Seven out today. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

When she woke, her side was hot and damp. Kakashi's fever had returned. "You aren't going to die," Sakura whispered to the dark, a fervent promise that she couldn't quite believe.

There was a clatter of chains from across the corridor. "Sakura? You're awake?"

"Yeah."

"How's Kakashi?"

Sakura focused on Kakashi's panting breaths, on the way they shook his body and rattled in his chest. She pretended that the moisture on her face was sweat. Shinobi didn't cry.

"Sakura?" A different voice, deeper, though no older than the first.

"He's fine."

Kakashi's head dropped closer to her shoulder, so close that his lips brushed over her skin, bare of fabric and frighteningly hot.

"Did he wake up?" the first voice asked hopefully. Metal scraped across the stone floor. He was moving again.

Sakura dried her face with her hand, wiping away the sweat. "A while ago, when you were gone. I think he's getting better."

"He'll get us out of here, right?"

"Did he say anything? When he woke up?"

Kakashi slumped over, draping across her body, his wet skin over her broken skin. Sakura bit back a gasp of pain as Kakashi pressed down on her twisted arm and his sweat slipped into the places where skin should have been. "He—he asked for some water," she choked out.

Kakashi was panting into her ear now, wet hot breath sliding over her naked scalp, stinging at the cuts where the blade had sliced skin rather than hair.

"That's good, right?" the first voice said. "He's getting better."

Sakura nodded, even though they couldn't see her through the dark. "Yeah. It's a good sign."

"He'll get us out." The second voice.

Sakura buried her mouth against Kakashi's neck to muffle her breathless scream. His sweat tasted of things she didn't know how to name and Sakura was pretty sure he was dying.

"He will," she said with the faith of the desperate. "He's got to."

Sakura didn't know how the other two could still have hope. Maybe it was because she kept lying to them.

* * *

><p>"Sakura," Kakashi whispered. Her name was barely audible, almost lost to the darkness around them.<p>

"Kakashi?" Sakura answered, wiggling around the chains until she faced him. "You're awake?" Hope rushed through her, curling in her toes and rising into her chest.

"You need..." Kakashi's voice drifted off. His fever had not broken. "...you need to take his eye...destroy it."

Her hope died. "What?" Sakura protested. "I _can't_."

"You can." The words were firm. "I promise, Sakura, you can do it."

The trap door rattled, and someone laughed. The guards were coming. Sakura slipped her tongue across her cracked lips. They bled.

Kakashi gripped her arm. Their chains chimed, metal clinking against metal. "They're coming. It's our last chance."

Light spilled through the rough wooden slats that separated their cell from the hallway, falling from the trap door in bars of light and shadows. Black mould glistened along the floor, thickest where the water pooled in the hollows of the flagstone floor.

The ladder clanked as the guards dropped it through the trap door. "You have to hurry, Sakura. It's up to you." A bar of light crossed his face, and Sakura didn't like it. Kakashi's eyes were closed as if he was sleeping, and sweat slid down his face in shining droplets. He was helpless.

Sakura bit her lip, forcing the cracks wider.

Across the hall, Naruto stirred, crawling toward the deepest corner, the one furthest from the corridor. He was alone. Sasuke was taken days ago, and he hadn't been returned.

"Do it!" Kakashi hissed, his scarred eye spinning, spinning, spinning. It glowed garnet red in the rising light.

Sakura muffled a sob and nodded. She held her breath until the tightness in her throat died and then she shifted her weight to her knees.

He'd said she could do it, Sakura told herself. Kakashi _said._

The guards climbed down the ladder. They were laughing. They always laughed.

Kakashi's red eye was spinning-spinning-spinning. Sakura looked away and dug her nails into the skin of her hands. They were sharp and ragged. She hoped it would be enough.

The single light bulb snapped on, swaying on its wire string. The shadow bars multiplied and danced, playing over the dirty, nasty, _gross _room.

The key clicked in the lock.

She tensed.

"Get the old guy," someone said. Sakura didn't breathe, listening for the sound of their movements, watching their shadows through the gaps in the rotting boards.

She thought there were only two, today. (Kakashi said she could do it. He said. He said.)

The door squealed as it opened. It was Daiki—he gave Sakura extra food, once. Her hands shook, the chains attached to her wrists shifting link by link in a cascade of sound.

Daiki approached.

Sakura stiffened her first two fingers on her right hand, and shifted her weight until her feet were under her, hidden by the dirt brown rags she wore. Her legs shook so badly that she felt like she might fall over—but Kakashi said she could do this.

"Do it. There's no time left," Kakashi ordered raggedly, red eye spinningspinningspinning.

Daiki paused. He'd heard Kakashi's words. There was no time.

Sakura lunged forward, barely able to see through her incessant, unrelenting fear. Her fingers stabbed into Daiki's eye, bounced and slid to the edge of the socket and dug in, folding his eyelid into his skull.

He screamed, grabbing for her wrist and missing. Sakura scrambled for the short dagger on his belt with her free hand and shoved with her other, driving her fingers deeper into the too-tight space, through resisting flesh until it stopped being too-tight, and thick fluid spurted from the edges of Daiki's eye.

Sakura choked back a sob, utterly repulsed, and hooked her fingers. He screamed again, slamming his fist into her side, hitting the old and new cuts and bruises. Sakura yanked the eye free and threw it as far away as she could, then drove her new dagger though his other eye.

Daiki shook, mouth gaping in silent shock and then pissed himself. Sakura scrambled off his chest, barely avoiding the second guard's attack. She stabbed him, the dagger cutting a bright line across his face.

The second guard—Kenta, his name was Kenta, Sakura remembered—edged toward her, knife awkwardly held in his hand. _Clumsy clumsy, not a ninja_. Sakura bared her teeth, acting more on instinct than reason—a man's eye was all over her hand, it was on her _hand_.

Kenta's eyes were wide, flickering between Daiki and Sakura. Back and forth.

The stolen dagger warmed in her hand. It was sharp. She could do this. Kakashi said.

"Fuck this, I'm getting backup," he cursed, backing toward the door.

Sakura snarled and lunged again, bending herself around his clumsy swipe of the knife. She could not let him leave.

Kenta made a soft, weak gasping sound, eyes wide, afraid, and ready to be ruined.

Sakura used the dagger, unwilling to jam her hand into the slick heat of his skull. It sliced across the skin and soft tissue, hiding his eyes behind a curtain of blood.

Kenta dropped his dagger in shock—_fool_, a cold voice from deep inside whispered—and clapped his hands to his face. Sakura sobbed and drove the knife through his hand, angled to avoid the bones. The blade sank deep, even deeper than it had in Daiki.

He dropped slowly to his knees, shaking like a leaf in the wind.

Another sob shook her, terror, fear, guilt—_Kakashi said_, Sakura reminded herself sharply. _You have to_. She peeled the guard's other hand away from his face. The bleeding had slowed, almost stopped.

Sakura dragged the dagger from his eye. The hand she'd pierced was stuck on the blade, flapping limp and useless near the hilt. She over-rode the horrified protests of her morals and sanity, and jammed the knife into his other eye, his hand slapping against his blood streaked cheek.

Sakura pinned the guard's hand against his face and pulled the weapon free. Liquid welled up through the hole in his hand, too thick to be blood.

"Kakashi?" she whispered uncertainly.

Her hands were covered in blood and eyes. She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Sakura didn't think she'd be able to stop if she started.

He didn't respond. Sakura glanced up, heart jumping frantically in her chest. His eyes were closed, fever bright on his cheeks. Kakashi wasn't awake. Sakura's lips trembled and tears spilled down her cheeks. She couldn't do this. She couldn't!

_You can_, Kakashi's voice whispered from her memory, bringing back her resolve.

_You have to do this_. _No one else can_. It didn't make her feel courageous. Sakura was terrified, cold, and she had no idea why Kakashi told her to destroy their eyes and even less idea what she was supposed to do now.

She prodded Kakashi shoulder, hoping he would get up and do something. Like tell her what needed to be done now that the eyes were ruined and the guards were dead.

He did not respond.

Sakura looked at the guards, studying the bodies, avoiding their faces, and tried desperately to _think_. She was good at figuring things out. She should be able to figure out why Kakashi had told her to take their eyes. Figure out the plan.

"Sakura?" Naruto's whisper was so quiet. He didn't sound like himself anymore. "What happened?"

It didn't make any sense. _Why?_The other guards would come soon, looking for Daiki and Kenta. They'd see what she had done and punish all of them for it. Kakashi wouldn't have a plan like that.

"Sakura?"

...there were two sets of keys on Daiki's belt. The light from the trapdoor sparkled off the gleaming metal.

She lifted the rings of keys, her hands shaking and bloody _bloody-bloody_—Sakura held her breath until stars danced in the corners of her eyes.

"Sakura?" Naruto was louder now. He pressed against the bars, a dirt smeared, blood smeared face with bright blue eyes.

She had never seen such blue eyes on anyone else. How did she never notice them before?  
>...why was she thinking about his eyes? Sakura crushed the thought, terrified by it, by the idea of the guards' broken faces becoming Naruto's (her hands, her hands had done that. What if they did it again?). She couldn't think about Naruto like that. He was her friend.<p>

"I have the keys," she whispered back. There were small silver ones that looked like they might be the keys to their chains. The guards only brought those down when they were taking someone away.

Kakashi must have known, must have been planning an escape. Pity he'd passed out.

"Can you walk?" she asked. Her heart skittered in her chest. Anxious. How was she supposed to get them out if Kakashi was unconscious?

"Can Kakashi?" Naruto replied. One of his hands curled around the iron bars. There was no blood on his hands, only on hers. "Is he going get us out of here?" There was so much hope in his voice and it's all her fault. Sakura can't let him down again.

Sakura shook her head, hidden by the dark. Naruto could not see. "He's asleep," she said. "But he told me I had to do it."

Water dripped, three times.

"If we try to get out they'll hurt us worse," Naruto murmured softly, fretfully. "Did you try...? I did. They hurt me."

Her throat tightened, tears close to spilling. "If we get out, they'll never hurt us again," Sakura promised him. She can do this. She can. (Her hands, _her hands._)

"But it'll hurt so bad," he said. "Are you sure Kakashi isn't awake?"

Sakura skimmed her eyes across the guards' corpses. They're dead. She killed them. "Our escape attempt has already begun," she whispered, eyes drawn to the ruined mess of their faces. She killed two men. Their eyes were on her hands.

"Sakura?" Naruto sounded scared.

They were out of other options. "Can you help me carry Kakashi?" she asked. "I don't think he weighs too much anymore." Sakura tore her gaze from the dripping, trickling, oozing bodies. Kakashi hadn't moved.

"Kakashi?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah."

She pushed the first key into the lock.

"I think so," Naruto said.

_Click_—her manacles were gone. They clattered to the floor. Something—something poured through her like water, flooding into her hands and feet, tingling along her bare scalp. Sakura shivered, watching as her shiny chains turned dull grey, up to the ring that connected her to Kakashi's bonds.

Her eyes flickered to her wrists. A red band wrapped around each of them, and she thought it was the guards' blood until she realized that it was her own. Her skin had rubbed raw under the chains.

Sakura wiped her hands on her pants and took Kakashi's wrist. Her hands smeared dark stains on his skin, not clean enough.

The first key she tried didn't work. Neither did the second.

"Sakura?" Naruto whispered.

"In a second, Naruto," she answered. There were only five keys small enough to fit into the shackles. Sakura tried a third one. It didn't work.

The fourth got stuck in the lock. Sakura jiggled it, Kakashi's hand limp as Kenta's had been. Something clicked, and the cuff slowly opened, resisting like something had gummed up the hinges. It slid off his wrist and fell to the ground, crumbling into grey dust on impact.

Something invisible rose, tasting of storms and hot tea, feeling like summer heat on winter bones. Sakura's hands stopped shaking.

"Sakura!" Naruto sounded slightly desperate.

"I'm coming," Sakura said, prying open the other cuff. It crumbled into dust, too, and the warmth doubled, accompanied by lazy reassurances and surprised laughter that came from her memories.

Kakashi's breathing deepened, losing its frantic rhythm. Hope unfurled in her chest, and Sakura would have broken into tears, had she the time.

He was too heavy for her to carry, so she wrapped her arms around Kakashi's chest and dragged him out the still open door, locking it behind her so Naruto couldn't see what she had done.

"Where are the guards?" Naruto asked, peering into the darkness of her cell. Shadows were so much harder to see into than to see out of.

Sakura shook her head, not looking at his butterfly-blue eyes. She didn't dare risk it.

She had seen the guards unlock the doors often enough to know which key opened Naruto's. There was a bright shiny scratch down the side where Sasuke had attacked a guard with a rock.

It had been days before he could walk again.

"Is Kakashi alive?" Naruto whispered. He should never sound so scared, Sakura decided. It wasn't right.

"He's still breathing," she replied firmly. The Academy had taught them that breathing meant nothing if they never woke, but she doubted that Naruto remembered that. "And he was awake just a few minutes ago."

"Why does he never talk to me?" Naruto asked plaintively, shuffling away from the door so she could open it. "He never..."

Guilt twisted in her chest. Kakashi had almost never been awake. Sakura had lied and lied and lied to them because she couldn't bear to see them hurt. "His voice was very weak," she said.

"But you could have—"

Naruto's shackles burst into dust before she could even get them off. A wave of heat rose from his skin, like the shimmering air over hot pavement. Sakura's hair stood on end, prickling her half-healed scars. It felt like home—forests and creeks and moss-covered stones.

"What was that?" Naruto's voice was hushed.

"I don't know," she whispered. It felt almost like it had when she'd taken Kakashi's cuffs off, but stronger, so much stronger.

"I think maybe the chains were suppressing our chakra," she said after a moment's thought. Sakura had never felt chakra before. Or maybe she had always felt it, and only noticed its absence once it had returned.

"What's on your hands?" Naruto asked, staring at the gore on her fingers.

Sakura giggled, then clamped her lips shut. She did not say _eyes_. "Nothing. We have to go," she said, pressing Kenta's dagger into Naruto's hand, keeping Daiki's blood-slick blade for herself. "Help me carry Kakashi?"

"I thought he would look different," Naruto said.

It took her a long time to realize that he was talking about Kakashi's face.

"We have to get out of here," she said, repeating herself. Sakura swallowed hard, scared that maybe Naruto was too broken to help.

Naruto snuck out of his cell like he expected to be hit, but pulled Kakashi's arm over his shoulder. "He's hot," Naruto murmured anxiously. "Is he okay?"

"It's just a fever," Sakura reassured him, taking Kakashi's other side. His warmth poured through her like safety and shelter. He wasn't dead yet. She could do this.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wait," Sakura whispered, lowering Kakashi to the floor. The door was ornate, carved and painted with boats sailing on a calm sea. It stuck out like a sore thumb against the mould-stained wood of the hallway.

Naruto stood shock still, watching her with empty blue eyes. Trusting or apathetic, she couldn't tell.

She snuck forward, dagger tucked against her forearm, invisible at first glance.

It was the only door. Ornate meant important, and she'd pass it by if she could, but there weren't any other choices. The trap door had lead to a room filled with half-empty bottles of beer, empty chairs, and food-smeared plates. It had been abandoned and recently so, from the condensation dripping down the sides of the bottles.

The short hall off of it had a plain, ordinary door, blocked from the other side, and this one.

The floor creaked, and Sakura froze. She could hear muffled voices from behind the door. Their conversation had not paused. Sakura inched forward, pressing a hand against the smooth dark wood.

"...foolish!" a man growled. His voice was almost familiar.

The second man laughed, and Sakura snarled silently. She knew that laugh.

It was the man who'd had them captured. He'd watched when Sasuke had been beaten until he couldn't move. He had laughed when the guards broke Naruto's fingers—made him _cry_.

Kakashi had been sick when they'd been taken, so tired he could barely lift his head, but the bastard had made the guards beat him until Kakashi couldn't move and barely breathed.

He had cut her hair off himself, four men holding her down, even though she was too scared to move. Kakashi had stopped him. He'd wanted—wanted to—Kakashi had stopped him.

"Advice is not what I pay you for," he said. His voice was squeaky like a rat.

She couldn't charge in and kill him. There was no telling how many people were in there.

Sakura pushed down her rage, her hate—she _wanted _that man's eyes on her hands. She wanted to make him tell her where Sasuke was, then kill him dead dead _dead_.

"You are a fool," the first speaker said. "This ninja is not the type of man you can buy off, and Konoha is not a village that will ignore your trespasses. You are courting war with this auction."

The man giggled, high pitched and evil sounding. "There's no man or organization without a price, and for what Cloud has offered, I'll be able to buy Konoha ten times over."

Sakura shifted her grip on the dagger, imagining driving it through his chest—no, his gut. Leave him to die slow.

"You cannot be convinced?"

"I will buy them the way I bought you. Need I remind you how easy that was?"

A door opened and slammed shut, rattling on its hinges.

He was alone.

Sakura looked back, checking on Naruto. He hadn't moved.

She held her index finger in front of her lips, and slunk toward him, avoiding the board that had creaked. "I need your help," she whispered, touching Naruto's shoulder with light fingers.

He jerked his attention from the door, looking at her.

"The man—the one who—Sasuke," she whispered, hoping he'd remember, he'd understand her meaning.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, and she felt killing intent radiate off him. The stripes on his cheeks thickened, deepened, sinking into his fragile skin like they'd been carved.

Good. He knew.

"Leave Kakashi here. We'll go in, get him to tell us where Sasuke is, then kill him," Sakura said, creeping back to the door.

Naruto followed in her footsteps, his bare feet as quiet as her own. He took his place behind her, the dagger held tight in his hand.

Sakura tested the door handle. It was unlocked.

She glanced at Naruto, and he nodded, alert and _there _in a way he hadn't been since he'd left his cell.

The hinges were well-greased. The door opened soundlessly into an opulent office, decorated in plush velvets and shining silk, all of it red.

The man's back was to them. The door opened from behind his desk. It was built into the panelling, invisible from inside the office. It was secret. Hidden.

He shuffled his piles of papers, stacked over a foot deep on the rare Konohian Hartwood desk, recognizable from the distinctive flame pattern of the wood grain.

Sakura stepped inside, her feet sinking soundlessly into the thick carpet, Naruto close by her side.

He tapped his pen against the desk, humming to himself.

Sakura curled her toes in the carpet. He had no idea how vulnerable he was.

She snuck forward until she was close enough to touch his wrinkled suit, pulled tight over sloping shoulders. Naruto crouched low, sliding through shadows to stand behind the man's right shoulder.

She licked her lips. Do or die, Sakura thought with a touch of morbid humour. "Where is Sasuke, Gato?" she hissed.

Gato jerked, pen falling from his fingers and clattering on his desk, ink staining the blotter. Messy.

Naruto tucked his dagger under Gato's chin, trails of blood dribbling from where his blade touched. Sakura could just see them, staining the collar of his starched shirt as crimson as the curtains, carpet, and walls.

"Don't kill him," Sakura warned. They didn't have their answers yet.

"There's a safe behind the panelling—I can give you money—" Gato choked, going very, very still.

Sakura dug the tip of her dagger a tiny bit deeper into his eyelid. "Shhhh," she said. "We don't want money. We want to know where Sasuke is."

A hissing, angry growl rose from Naruto's chest. "What did you do with him?" He hardly sounded human.

"I sold him," Gato whimpered, despicably cowardly when he didn't have someone else to hide behind. "To—to a village—"

"And what village was that?" Sakura asked, twisting her blade. She couldn't see his face, but she imagined that his eye was bleeding, red dripping down his cheek.

Her hands were smeared darkly and they glistened in the light. She wondered if he saw the stains, or if Gato had closed his eyes out of fear.

"The Hidden Village of Sound!" Gato gasped. "They outbid the others—took him away a week ago!"

Sakura met Naruto's eyes, mouthing, _Sound?_

He shook his head.

"If you let me go, I'll pay you—I'll—" Gato's voice rose, getting louder—too loud.

Sakura jammed her blade into his eye at the same time as Naruto ripped his across Gato's throat. A bright spurt of blood painted the white papers, the white shirt, darkening them to match the Hartwood desk.

"We don't want your money," she whispered into Gato's thinning hair. The dagger dripped on the fine carpet when she ripped it out.

Naruto looked at her, some unnameable darkness in his cornflower eyes. Sakura licked her lips, wondered if the same darkness was in hers.

"I've never heard of a Sound village," Naruto said. "Have you?"

She shook her head. "No. We'll have to go back to Konoha, tell them what we know."

"What about Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "We can't just leave him—"

"He isn't here. We aren't leaving him behind, we're leaving to get information so we can find him." Sakura dumped the bloody papers on the floor and wiped off the desk. Hartwood was stained red by the blood of heroes. Gato's blood was unworthy of it.

Naruto wiped his dagger on the back of Gato's suit. "You promise? We'll come back for Sasuke?"

"Once we know where he is," she reassured him absently, opening drawers. Alcohol, staples, keys, and an entire drawer full of empty envelopes. Sakura took the keys, just in case.

The other side of drawers had a better bounty—hand sanitizer, cigars, lighters, and a bonafide cornucopia of candy. She scrubbed with hand sanitizer three times, but couldn't get the blood off, just streaked it.

"Come on. Let's get Kakashi before anyone comes." Sakura said, dragging Gato's suit jacket off his corpse and dousing it with hand sanitizer. It smelled flammable.

She paused by the window and hacked off the bottom of one of the bright silk curtains. Kakashi would want his face covered.

* * *

><p>The blade was taller than her, taller than Kakashi, even. Sakura stared at her reflection in the bright polished surface. She barely recognized herself, pale and shorn and scarred. Her lips were striped black with bleeding and bitten cracks. Ino would be appalled.<p>

"I think you killed my employer," Zabuza told them, when both she and Naruto failed to react to his entrance.

Sakura glanced through the window behind her, at Gato's smoking corpse. The fire jumped to the curtains, hissing and crackling as it fed on his fine things. "I think there was a safe in there," she said. "You could probably grab it before anyone else does, escape with whatever money he had on hand."

"Do you know where Hidden Sound Village is?" Naruto asked when Zabuza didn't respond.

Sakura had to fight back a fit of the giggles, because _eyes_. "Well? Do you?" she asked, her breath hitching in an unsteady laugh.

"No." Zabuza lifted his sword and slung it over his shoulder. He looked them over, head to toe, toe to head. His eyes were dark. The sun refused to shine through the clouds and fog, so Sakura couldn't tell if they were brown or grey.

Sakura shifted Kakashi higher on her shoulder. His hand grasped her shirt, tugging on it. Alive, she noted. Breathing quieter, less hot than he'd been.

"Oh." Naruto frowned. "Do you know where Sasuke is?"

Zabuza shook his head. "There's a rumour that he never made it to Sound," he offered. "The group taking him there was found dead, torn to shreds."

Sakura tensed, her heart near breaking. "Was Sasuke among them?" she asked, voice wavering traitorously. "Is he dead?"

Naruto made a sound, low in his throat. His face turned soft and distant again, life fleeing it.

"Rumours..." Zabuza laughed, sharp and loud. "Things are coming to a head. The last of the Uchiha are together and Konoha is marching to war."

Her eyes met Naruto's over the breadth of Kakashi's shoulders. "War with who?" she asked, turning over the words 'the last of the Uchiha' in her head. Did that mean he was alive? Sasuke was the last Uchiha, singular. Right?

Zabuza studied them. "Wait here," he said, not answering. He ripped the window from its frame and went through. Smoke poured through the hole, black and reeking.

Sakura brushed the shards of glass from her neck and started walking, Naruto a half-step behind her.

"Zabuza asked you to stay." The voice was androgynous, the speaker's face hidden behind a Hunter's mask. Sakura recognized it from the disastrous fight on the lake. There had been the gleam of silver flying through the air—Kakashi had said senbon, when they described it—and then they had woken in the dark.

The person behind the mask was young, not much older than her. Sakura clutched the dagger in her hand and wondered what color their eyes were.

"We don't want to stay," she said, loosening her grip on Kakashi's wrist. If she moved fast—

Kakashi shifted, the muscles in his arms tensing. His shirt was soaked through with sweat. Sakura didn't look. He moved in his sleep a lot. He probably wasn't awake.

Zabuza stepped out of the window, dropping a smoking cube of metal at their feet. He drove the blunt edge of his sword into it, cracking the safe in two. Paper—more money than Sakura had ever seen in her life—slipped out, bound in bundles.

"Grab it," Zabuza ordered the masked ninja before he returned his gaze to them. "I suppose you're right. No use crying over spilt milk."

She nodded when it became apparent that he was waiting for a response.

"But it is a bit of a dilemma, you understand."

Sakura didn't understand. She was pretty sure Naruto didn't either.

"There are wolves at the door, and I've got no way past them but you," Zabuza concluded pensively, his fingers drumming along the hilt of his sword. "Which means, of course, that you're coming with me."

"I'm done," the other ninja said quietly. The safe was empty and covered in a layer of frost, the coating of soot nearly hidden by ice. "Perhaps we should move on?"

Sakura studied the glint of ice crystals on metal, trying to make sense of her situation. There was very little to be found.

"Come," Zabuza ordered her, trying to take Kakashi. Sakura reacted, driving the dagger toward his face with all her strength. She missed, Zabuza shifting inches to the side, the blade whistling past.

"He is ours," she said, her sharp tone lost in the deadening mist. "You can't have him!"

"Gato's employees will see the smoke soon. Do you want to fight them?"

"How many are there?"

"Upward of a hundred," Zabuza said.

Sakura wrapped her arm around Kakashi's back. "Then we had best get moving," she replied. "Lead on." In a choice between death now and death later, she would always choose death later.

Zabuza snorted. "At least we don't have far to go," he said, twitching his shoulder. "Haku? Watch them."

"Yes sir." The masked ninja disappeared and the fog thickened.

"Follow me, and hurry if you can."

_You can_, Sakura remembered, ducking her head and squaring her shoulders. It was hard to get moving again, Kakashi's feet and knees dragging on the ground like anchors, but with Naruto's help she managed. They entered the mist, the silent movement of Zabuza's feet their only guide.

* * *

><p>Kakashi weighed as much as the world, draped over her shoulders. He shivered near constantly, even though Sakura thought she might melt where he touched her.<p>

Waves lapped at her toes, splashing over fine grey gravel. It felt smooth and cool under her feet, even as the salt stung the scrapes in her skin.

Through the mist, Sakura could see a ruined bridge, bowed, half-melted, and crumbling into the sea. She shifted, brushing her fingers over Naruto's arm to make sure he was still there.

"Can you walk on water?" Zabuza asked. Half-forgotten memory sparked, and she remembered seeing Kakashi standing on the lake.

"No," she answered.

"Trees?"

"Climb them?" Naruto asked, a trace of scorn in his voice. They'd grown up in Konoha. Tree climbing came about a week after learning how to walk.

"Walk up them." He pointed to the forest behind them. The masked ninja waved, standing sideways on the trunk of a sapling.

"No." Sakura shook her head, and looked at the ground, wondering just how far behind they were, compared to other genin.

Zabuza crouched, looking at Naruto, then her. "How long have you been out of the Academy?"

"Before?" Sakura thought back, the memories of doing D-Ranks blurred and distant.

"Two weeks?" Naruto guessed.

"Thirteen days, before we left for Wave," Sakura corrected him, remembering ticking off a 'Two Weeks!' anniversary on the second day of the mission. It seemed incredibly silly, now.

Nothing about Zabuza's face changed, but he _felt_angry. "You were sent on an A-Rank Mission thirteen days after graduation?"

"It was supposed to be a C-Rank," she replied. "Kakashi said that the worst we might face would be angry squirrels."

"So the bridge-maker lied," Zabuza said. He stood, stepping back onto the water. The tiny waves went glass-like and smooth under his feet. "Gato impounded all the boats, and we don't have time to find them. You're learning to walk on water."

"How?" Naruto asked. Sakura hoped it was the mist that made him sound so lifeless.

"Can you channel chakra?"

"Yes," Sakura answered.

Naruto shifted restlessly, pressing more of Kakashi's weight on her. "What's chakra?"

Really? Sakura wondered how the hell Naruto had ever graduated.

"You can use ninjutsu?" Zabuza asked, after a subtle pause.

"Yeah."

"Chakra powers ninjutsu."

"Oh. That stuff. It's called chakra?"

"Yes. Direct it to your feet, and use it to ride the surface tension of the water."

Gravel exploded from under Naruto's feet, pelting their legs.

"Not like that," Zabuza said. He looked up, peering into the cloud-like fog. "We don't have time. Haku!"

Sakura held her foot over the shallow waves, shifting her chakra until the water under her looked like the polished gleam under Zabuza's feet. Her toes touched, but did not get wet. She stepped forward and stood solidly on the waves.

"I'm taking Hatake. Haku will bring the two of you over—" Zabuza looked back and paused. "Quick learner," he said. "Haku will take blue-eyes over. Green-eyes, you get to walk."

Sakura clutched Kakashi's hand and thought of stabbing Zabuza. Kakashi was hers, and no one was taking him away.

"Kid, either you're with me, or we are all are going to the bottom of the sea. Make your choice." He was nervous, she thought, watching a wisp of fog dance around their legs.

Die later, she decided again, meeting Zabuza's eyes. "If you harm him, I will find a way to make you pay for it."

"Me too," Naruto added. Had he ever been so serious before? She couldn't remember.

"Trust me, last thing on my mind." Zabuza lifted Kakashi easily, draping him over the shoulder without his sword. "Come on, we're running out of time."

The water in front of Naruto froze, the mist thickening above it. "My ice is solid," Haku said, skimming over the water easily. "Hurry!"

Naruto shivered, but stepped onto the frozen path. He looked back at Sakura, waiting. "Hurry?" he asked, his legs hidden by opaque mist. "It's cold."

Sakura bit her lip, sucking the blood from the cracks. How hard could it be? She took a step, nearly fell. Another, and another, and she found her balance. "Let's go," she said breaking into a run. She could hear Naruto's bare feet slapping against the ice as he followed.

Ten meters from the other shore, she heard Zabuza. "They're at the shore. Melt the bridge."

The ice under Naruto started to wobble, tilting wildly. Sakura grabbed his wrist, yanking him over her shoulders, and kept running. He was heavier than half of Kakashi had been, but not by much.

"Sakura?" he asked, his voice wavering in time to the bounce of her shoulders into his stomach.

She didn't respond, too focused on the shore to speak. The warm current she was using to keep herself above water was weakening, losing power. Her feet sank into the water and it felt like running in dry sand.

The shore was too far away.

"Relax." Big hands lifted Naruto from her shoulders, then plucked Sakura from the water, her feet wet to the ankles. "Haku was melting the bridge on the other end, not this side."

He braced her against his side, one arm under her butt like she was all of four years old. Sakura wrapped her arms around Zabuza's neck instinctively and felt even younger. Naruto grabbed on from the other side, his hands nearly smacking her.

"Just _kids_," Zabuza grumbled. Sakura barely noticed, because he was blissfully warm. "Don't know what Konoha was thinking, sending you into this mess."

He dropped them on the shore. "Are you going to protest if I carry Hatake again? Trust me when I say there are four squads of Lightning nin and six from Rock hunting us who are dying to take him off our hands. We need to run."

Sakura looked back. The opposite shore was obscured by a thick haze. "Is it your fog?" she asked, digging her toes into the pebbles to find the water underneath.

"Yes." Zabuza shrugged and threw Kakashi over his shoulder. "You can walk?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered for her. The mist on the other side grew thicker.

"Then let's take you home."


	3. Chapter 3

They moved faster—a _lot_ faster—with Zabuza carrying Kakashi. Sakura suspected he was slowing down for their sake because she could barely put one foot in front of the other, but they were moving at least twice as fast as before.

She felt like her skin was dead. Branches and grass slapped against her legs and arms, but she couldn't feel them over the harsh in-out of her lungs. _You can, You can, You can, _Kakashi's voice whispered, but she wasn't sure.

Zabuza stopped.

Sakura stumbled, running into his legs before he steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. "Hell," he muttered. "Guess we aren't going to make it. Haku?"

"Yes?" Haku appeared from the trees, silent and wraith-like.

Zabuza lifted his blade from the hooks strapped to his back. "Take the kids and run. I'll try to hold him off long enough for you to reach the Konoha army."

Konoha's army...Sakura stared into the hazy fog. Zabuza had yet to explain anything. Konoha had not mobilized in over twelve years—not since the demon fox. What was going on?

Naruto shuffled restlessly, his arm bumping hers.

Haku's head tilted, bird-like. "No."

The refusal seemed expected. Zabuza snorted. "You need to run. The kids and Hatake will get you in. Haku—you were never a ninja. Konoha might accept you."

"I won't go anywhere without you," Haku stated. The mist deepened, grew colder. "Let the children run, but I will not leave you, Zabuza."

"Stubborn. We are all going to die, you know?" Zabuza shook his head and laughed. "Freeze our trail. He hates the cold." He dove into the undergrowth, carving a path from the dense thicket.

Hoar frost grew from the leaves and branches, spiking to unlikely lengths. "You had best start running," Haku warned her. "It's going to get very cold, very soon."

Naruto scrambled after Zabuza, Sakura hot on his trail.

"Found yourself some more tagalongs?" the voice was incredibly deep, low enough that Sakura heard him in her bones.

"Kisame," Zabuza said, sliding Kakashi from his shoulder, letting him fall to the ground.

The bitter chill in the air died and Zabuza checked the trees. "You brought the Uchiha," he said, tightening his hold on his sword until his knuckles went white.

Sakura searched the forest, Naruto wire-tense beside her. "Sasuke?" she whispered, daring to hope—

"Not the Uchiha he was referring to, I suspect." The speaker was so neutral as to sound bored. He stepped into view, clad in red and black that matched his eyes and hair. "Are you Sakura?"

She looked to Zabuza, uncertain, but he wasn't looking at them. He was staring at a gap in the trees. She could almost see another man, hidden in the dying mist. Or maybe it was a rock or something, because if that shape was human, he was_ huge_.

"My brother was quite insistent that we find you."

Who was he talking about? Sakura licked her lips, and stood in front of Kakashi. The scrap of curtain covering his face was the brightest thing around, glaring scarlet in the cool grey and browns of the undergrowth. Was the stranger an Uchiha? He did kind of look like Sasuke.

"Who is your brother?" Naruto whispered. Sunlight pierced the clouds and dove through the leaves, sparkling off the fog and frost, then was gone.

"My brother is Sasuke," the stranger answered. He advanced, and Sakura saw that a pair of pale arms were draped around his neck, nearly the same color as the bandages wrapped around the wrists. Spikes of black hair were barely visible from behind his shoulder.

Sasuke?

"Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha. S-Class missing nins," Zabuza said. "Rumour says that Itachi slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan when he was thirteen."

"True," Itachi admitted. "But I never had the heart to kill my little brother."

Sakura wondered if he was going to kill them now. It was what missing-nin _did_. Zabuza had been a glaring exception since they'd escaped, but she was almost certain he was going to trade their safety for his own, so that made sense.

"You have Sasuke," Naruto said.

"Yes. He asked that I return his team to Konoha." Itachi's voice softened, and Sakura thought she saw Sasuke move, shifting restlessly, "It seems I was late."

"What did you do to Haku?" Zabuza asked, changing his focus from the half-hidden man to Itachi.

"I put the false-Hunter to sleep," Itachi said. "Might I ask what purpose you had in killing your employer and kidnapping a Konoha—" he paused, looking away from Zabuza, into the trees.

Sasuke lifted his head and his eyes were as red as Itachi's. He stared past her, past Naruto.

Metal crashed against metal. Naruto cried out.

Sakura spun, the dagger in her hand, yanked from her make-shift sheath of rags. There was a man—_Rock nin, came from the ground—_she catalogued, already moving. He looked up, startled, and tried to block.

Naruto grabbed his arm, giving Sakura the distraction she needed to jump at him, throwing her entire body weight against the Rock nin's chest. She thought she saw Naruto kick the back of his knees, but either way the enemy fell hard, his skull cracking against a tree root.

Her dagger bounced off his throat, skittering like she'd tried to cut stone, so Sakura dropped it and drove her thumbs into his eyes. She pushed through the resistance, piercing the tight membrane of his eyes. The left one broke first, spurting up her wrist, her thumb sinking into the suddenly pliable organ.

The man was screaming. Sakura shook her head, instinctively, from habit. Her hair wasn't in her face; she didn't have hair that _could _get her face because she didn't know when to shut up.

He hit her, but it was weak, barely worth noticing. Sakura snarled, her lips cracking open, and shifted her weight, jamming her thumb into his right eye until it split apart into a wet, goopy mess.

The Rock nin didn't stop squirming, hitting her with the arm Naruto wasn't holding. It was _frustrating. _Daiki and Kenta had died, easy-peasy, so why wouldn't he? Sakura jerked his head up and slammed it against the tree root underneath. "_Die_," she whispered, something wet dripping down her face.

She did it again and the Rock nin went limp, but she could still feel him breathing. The skin under her hands softened, became malleable. Sakura yanked a hand free and took up her dagger, sawing across his throat. It split open, gushing red and hot all over her.

He wasn't breathing anymore.

Sakura shook. His blood was cooling on her skin and she was cold. They didn't tell you how messy it was in the academy. She checked on Naruto, patting his hand until he uncoiled from the corpse's arm, blinking sleepily as the black stripes on his cheeks thinned .

Someone cleared their throat.

"Unexpected," someone else muttered.

"Well, that explains how you escaped," Zabuza said from very nearby.

She looked up. Itachi was covering Sasuke's eyes.

There was a blue man.

All of them—Zabuza, Itachi and Blue Man—were almost on top of her. Closer to her meant closer to Kakashi, Sakura remembered, her heart fluttering.

Sakura wiped her hands on the ninja's vest then stood, putting herself between Kakashi and the host of missing nin. She didn't think she'd be much use protecting him, but Sakura could try. So far, trying had worked out pretty well.

It was quiet. Not even the leaves rustled. The missing-nin were watching the body like it might get back up again, more or less ignoring her and Naruto. It was okay, though. Sakura needed to catch her breath.

The Blue Man had sharp teeth that fit together like puzzle pieces. He caught her staring and glared at her with odd-coloured eyes. She wondered if they were the same colour in the inside. "You like my teeth, little girl?"

"They look useful," she answered honestly. With teeth like that she wouldn't have needed a dagger.

"Ah—" Blue Man's brow furrowed, and he glanced at Itachi.

"May I suggest that we conclude our business quickly?" Itachi asked, nudging the Rock nin's body with his toe to roll it over. He removed his hand from Sasuke's face. "There are more underground."

"Heh. We should fight them." Blue Man cracked his knuckles and grinned, showing off his teeth.

"Mmm. No," Itachi decided. "What were your intentions with my brother's team, Zabuza?" Itachi's tone hinted that there was a right and a wrong answer to the question. Sakura hoped Zabuza would answer right. He was getting to be familiar.

"I was going to trade them for safe passage past Konoha's troops. For Haku, if not myself."

"That will do," Itachi said. He knelt, letting Sasuke slide off his back. "Sasuke? I must leave. Konoha is the safest place for you until I ensure that all our potential enemies are gone. Please stay there?"

She had to strain her ears to hear Sasuke whisper, "You're leaving?"

Itachi pressed his lips against Sasuke's forehead and murmured something, too low for her to hear.

"...okay," Sasuke replied. He hugged Itachi with a grip that suggested he really didn't want to let go.

"Zabuza?" Itachi rested his hands on Sasuke's back, fingers twitching in tentative pats. "We are leaving. Be assured that I will follow you to Konoha's camp. Should my brother come to any sort of harm..." Itachi narrowed his eyes and _glared_. "...I will kill you and your fake-Hunter in the most agonizing method I can think of."

Sakura wished she had someone who would protect her so fiercely.

"Where did you leave Haku?" Zabuza demanded.

Itachi inclined his head toward the trees he'd appeared out of. "Hurry. There are Rock nin approaching from underground."

"And Lightning nin above ground," Zabuza grunted, lifting Haku with a great deal more care than he'd shown Kakashi. "Gato contacted every damn village out there for his stupid auction."

"He contacted Konoha?" Blue Man asked. His voice was really deep and rumble-y. Like a rock slide, Sakura decided. Her head was spinning, and everything was shaking.

Zabuza chuckled. "Tried to sell their property back to them."

"Fool," Itachi said. "He is dead?"

"Yes," Sakura answered. A rush of dark satisfaction swamped her, malicious but _good,_ and the unsteady feeling disappeared.

"He's on fire now," Naruto added, smiling sweetly. He was such a good boy, sometimes.

"Good." Itachi stood, breaking away from Sasuke. "You have an excellent team, Sasuke. You may rely on them."

Sakura met his eyes when Itachi looked at her. His eyes had black dots that spun like Kakashi's. She thought he maybe approved. "Protect my brother."

In the next second, he was gone, leaving Sasuke alone and Blue Man looking at the bushes where he had been.

"We really have to co-ordinate these things, Itachi," Blue Man muttered. He looked them over one last time, then disappeared as well.

Sasuke turned and his eyes were normal black. Sakura had always liked his eyes. She looked away to remind herself that his weren't for taking.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" His question should please her—he cared!—but Sakura felt nothing but cold. "You're covered in blood," Sasuke added.

"She's fine," Zabuza told him. "You and blue-eyes are going to be dragging Hatake, because whatever your brother did, Haku isn't waking up."

Someone screamed in the distance.

"I can do it," Sakura protested. She was fine. Kakashi wasn't that heavy.

Zabuza's mask of bandages shifted and she thought he might have been smiling at her. "You're more useful if you're mobile. Come on. There's not much further to go."

But Kakashi was hers, she wanted to protest, watching Sasuke and Naruto lift him. Not that Naruto and Sasuke weren't, she added in silent apology, but Kakashi had been on her side of the hall, not theirs.

* * *

><p>She didn't know anyone. Thirty men and women wearing the Konoha Hitai-ate, and she didn't know any of them. Sakura licked her lips. There was blood on them, and it might not be hers. She searched their faces again.<p>

"—Hatake?"

"It can't be."

"—Demon—"

"Go get—"

Zabuza was very quiet and still, hiding Haku's head and face with his hand. Maybe he didn't want them to see the hunter's mask.

"Does anyone recognize the kids?"

She knew lots of people who were ninja. Chouji's dad, Shikamaru's parents, Ino's entire family. There were at least a dozen who lived on the same street as her. Shouldn't she recognize someone?

...shouldn't someone recognize _her_?

A nagging suspicion grew in her heart. What if they weren't really Konoha ninja? What if they were imposters? Sakura skulked back, pretending she was nervous, planting herself between her team and the crowd. Zabuza was behind them, but he was holding Haku. He'd be slower, hopefully, or a barrier to attacks from behind if he really was on their side.

"They can't be more than ten—"

"—Do you think?"

Her hands were sweating, the hilt of the dagger growing slick in her hand. Was it genjutsu? No one had even asked who they were, and it was fucking obvious that they didn't know. They should have asked her to surrender her knife, should have _questioned _her.

If it was a genjutsu, the caster had no idea what Konoha procedures were. Zabuza?

But to what _purpose_? If he wanted them dead, it would be easy. One whack with his blade and they'd all fall down (in pieces).

If he wasn't the caster, then he was her best bet. Everything had seemed reasonable—okay, farfetched, but reasonable-_ish_—until they'd walked into rows on rows of tents and were waylaid by a pack of ninja. The best genjustu kept parts of reality, slowly replacing things so you didn't notice.

Sakura backed up, forcing Sasuke and Naruto to follow suit. It brought Kakashi to his knees, like he might lift his head at any second. He wouldn't, but hey, the thought was nice.

She glanced back, keeping one eye on the crowd. "Zabuza?"

His brow shifted—that looked _weird_ without eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Is this a genjutsu?"

"Not exactly."

"They aren't acting right," she whispered urgently. "They should have taken our weapons and questioned us. Are you _sure_ they're really from Konoha?"

He snickered. "Trust me. What you see isn't real, but those _are_ Konoha ninja."

Oddly, it did make her feel better. Zabuza might be lying, but why would he? Unless there was an underlying Machiavellian plot that she just wasn't seeing. She stewed over the thought. What could Zabuza gain from either a) a group of at least thirty imposters in a fake camp that extended at least a hundred metres out from her, or b) putting her under a powerful genjutsu where she _thought _there were imposters/Konoha ninja?

Sakura came up with nothing. Hitting her on the head and tying her up worked pretty damn good for anything someone might want from her.

The group parted, making way for—

Sakura _finally_ recognized someone.

He didn't recognize her. More evidence for genjutsu? Or did she look so different?

"Zabuza Momochi?" Ino's dad said. He was wearing his work clothes and he looked way more serious than he usually did.

"Yes?" Zabuza said. He poked her, encouraging her to move out of his way.

"What is your purpose here?"

The crowd was gone, replaced by a small army of ninja in black and grey, their faces covered in white masks. ANBU. Sakura blinked, wondering when that happened. _What you see isn't real..._

Oh. That made more sense.

"I'm looking to barter safe passage for myself and my ward."

Haku was his ward? Sakura snuck a look back, but she couldn't decide if Haku was a boy or a girl. The mask was gone but she _still_ couldn't tell. Pretty boy? Handsome girl?

"Barter with what?" Ino's dad was looking at her, but there was no recognition in his eyes.

How could he not know her? Sakura had spent half her life at his house. He was practically a second dad to her.

"The safe return of Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, and..." Zabuza paused and cleared his throat. "His, uh...other students."

"My name is _Sakura_," she hissed, glaring at him.

"I forgot to ask," he muttered back. "Calm down."

Ino's dad was really looking at her now. "Sakura?"

"Yeah?" she sounded rude, but she didn't care. He didn't remember her.

"You were reported dead." He rocked back on his heels and didn't even have the grace to look happy. He just looked suspicious, like she was distracting him while Ino nabbed them some cookies.

Screw him. "Did Ino cry?" Sakura snapped it to be cruel, but then found that she really wanted to know. Did rivals cry for each other? She would have cried for Ino.

"Of course she did." He looked a little less suspicious.

"Oh." Sakura closed her eyes, suddenly tired. "That's good, I guess."

"Not to interrupt, but will you accept my offer? If not, I'd like to point out that my ward was never a ninja, is not a missing nin, and is technically a civilian," Zabuza said.

Couldn't he slip a gender in there? It would be nice to know.

"Offer accepted, pending verification of their identities," Ino's dad said. He turned around, heading deeper into camp. "Either follow, or prepare to be killed where you stand."

Sakura really, really wanted to cry. She could feel it welling up into her throat, screaming 'why isn't this over yet?' and prodding her to pitch a fit of epic proportions. It wasn't good idea though. She stepped forward, leading Sasuke and Naruto after Ino's dad. If he didn't believe her she'd keep telling the truth until he did, damn it.

* * *

><p>"Birthdate?"<p>

"March 28th, 95 years after the founding." So far, the questions have been really easy. She didn't know what he was trying to learn from them. Sakura kind of wished he'd ask something more specific, like how many cookies she and Ino snuck last time she stayed over (three each before they decided to go on the grapefruit diet Ino found in a magazine).

"Date you graduated from the Academy?"

Sakura swallowed, looking at his glass of water longingly. He hadn't offered her one. "A hundred and seven years after the founding? In May?"

"What's my name?"

"It's—um." Sakura blushed brilliant red. She knew his name! ...and it wasn't Ino's dad. "I—it—uh."

"Yes?"

Oh crap, he was going to think she was an imposter and that everyone else was an imposter and then they'd kill her _team_ and oh crap oh crap oh _crap_, why couldn't she remember?

Sakura breathed out, then snapped her mouth shut. It probably made her look guiltier! Think! Think! she ordered herself. Surely Ino had introduced her at some point. Right?

He glowered at her, not even remotely friendly looking. They were all going to die because she couldn't remember his _name_.

"Oh god, I can't remember please don't kill my teammates?" she begged him. "Ino always called you dad and I always thought of you as Ino's dad, but I must know your name, it's just been a really long day and it's on the tip of my tongue, please please _please _don't kill them?"

Ino's dad cracked up and started _laughing_. What the hell? "It's her!" he chuckled, signalling the people standing by.

Four people marked as medics grabbed Kakashi, manhandling him toward a stretcher in the corner. "Hey!" Sakura snapped, sliding out of the uncomfortable chair and onto her feet. Just in case. "What are you doing?"

The ANBU in the corners bristled with weaponry in a subtle, yet pointed way.

She ignored them. There were much more important issues. "Don't touch him!"

There was a _look_ exchanged by the medics. They all had brown eyes, and when was she going to stop staring at people's eyes like that? It was weird and gross and she was safe now. Sakura didn't need to destroy any more eyes. She was going to retire and have a whole bunch of dogs. No more eyes.

"Sakura?" Ino's dad had stopped laughing and was all serious looking again. "Kakashi has a high fever. The medics are going to take care of him."

"They might be murderers in disguise! You don't _know_," she shouted at him, fully aware that it was a stupid argument, but those people shouldn't be touching Kakashi! They might hurt him, and he'd been hurt enough and he wasn't even awake, the sick_ fucks._  
><em><br>_Ino's dad patted her shoulder gingerly and his hand kind of stuck to her, and Sakura realized that she was covered, like, completely _covered_ in drying blood. She must look like some kind of berserker freak, but she wasn't! There were only...a lot of eyes.

Gods.

A lot of eyes.

Sakura hyperventilated a tiny bit. The medics were taking Kakashi away. Naruto and Sasuke just sat there like it was fucking okay, which it wasn't!

There was a blur of green and some guy she'd never even seen before started yelling, "My Eternal Rival's Student! Your Concern is Touching! I Shall—"

Sakura burst into tears and collapsed to her knees. She wanted Ino. And—and—her mother. And Kakashi. Especially Kakashi. He would tell her what to do and then she'd do it and everything would be okay.

The man stopped shouting and whispered, "Are you okay?" He looked horrified. So did his eyebrows.

"She had a hard couple of months," Zabuza said. He was sitting in a corner of the tent with Haku, who had woken up but become no less androgynous, and there were like ten ANBU glowering at them full time and Sakura really hoped they wouldn't kill either of them because Zabuza had been pretty nice, all things considered.

"It's okay," Ino's dad said and Sakura really couldn't stand it anymore, even if he was back-patting the only dry spot on her shirt like a champ.

"What is your _name_?" she demanded, before making a deeply embarrassing gurgling sound.

"Inoichi. My name is Inoichi. Can I get you a glass of water?"

She kind of heard Naruto sniffling and a weird squeaking noise from Sasuke, and someone said, "Oh shit, they're all going." And then there was a sort of hiccupping symphony, which made her feel better but cry harder.

"Okay. No water. Cookies? Wait, no, sorry, I don't have any." Inoichi was babbling. Or just being mean, because Sakura would like cookies, actually.

"I want Kakashi," she sobbed, feeling utterly ridiculous. "And my mom. And Ino." She stared at him hopefully. It was kind of silly, but if he could pull Ino out his pocket she would love him forever, no lie. If he brought Kakashi back she'd love him _forever_ forever.

"Shit." He yanked his headband off and ran his hand through his hair. "Kakashi is sick, but you can see him when he's better?"

She wanted to cover her face but her hands were disgusting and covered in eyes. Sakura wasn't sure it mattered, given that her face was probably coated in blood.

"Can I be clean?" she asked. Tears were still streaming down her face, but she wasn't sobbing anymore.

"Yeah—that's probably a good idea." Inoichi sighed and looked her over. "Is any of that blood yours?"

"No. It belongs to other people." Sakura shuddered, plucking at her hems. The clothes were sticking to her.

"I...see." He frowned. "Kurenai?"

"Yes?"

"Could you take Sakura to the showers?" He pointed at a snickering ANBU. "And you can take Naruto and Sasuke."


	4. Chapter 4

They hadn't been able to find clothes in her size, so they'd just given her a shirt from someone really tall and skinny and called it a dress. It was clean and Sakura was clean, and Kurenai even cut the gross looking stubble on her head to an even length (using scissors because the kunai had made her scream).

Sakura felt better. A lot better. She'd barely even noticed how red Kurenai's eyes were!

"Do you think they made a decision about Zabuza yet?" she asked, drumming her heels against the bench.

Naruto and Sasuke were only separated from her by a thin piece of fabric, and she could hear them bickering, so she knew they were okay.

The ANBU sounded kind of stressed, though.

"He'll have been granted safe passage," Kurenai answered, clipping an ugly shoot of too-long hair. "Why?"

"I want to say thank you. He was nice, even if he was using us."

Kurenai hummed, cutting off a bit at the nape of her neck. "He's probably already gone."

"Oh," Sakura said. "Perhaps I could write him a letter?" They were lighting lanterns outside. Night was falling.

"Good luck finding a mailing address." Kurenai put the scissors down and ruffled her stubbly hair. "There. You should visit the medic nins to make sure you don't scar, though."

Sakura nodded and drummed her heels against the bench again. There had been absolutely no underwear that could have fit her, so Kurenai had grabbed a pair of boxers from someone (Sakura didn't want to know who) and tied them on Sakura with a piece of rope. She'd promised that they were clean.

"Do you want something to eat?" she offered when Sakura didn't reply.

Sakura listened. Naruto and Sasuke had stopped squabbling, so they were almost done. "Okay. Can we see Kakashi after?"

"That's up to the medics."

Sakura hummed something that Kurenai could take as agreement if she wanted. They were probably hiding Kakashi in a tent. If she could figure out which one, it wouldn't be hard to break in.

She jumped to her feet, landing on the wooden slats with barely a wobble. The dress draped down below her knees, and the sleeves were rolled to half their length. It made her feel tiny, like she was playing dress up. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke had been wearing shoes and clothes that fit <em>and <em>were clean, so he didn't look like a homeless refugee, but Naruto was even shorter than her, so the clothes scrounged for him were pretty much tied on to keep them from falling off. It wasn't a good look.

Sakura dragged the boys toward the medic's tent (of course she was going to make sure that her scalp healed right, thank you Kurenai), holding on to their wrists so they couldn't wander off and disappear.

Naruto was too quiet and it was wrong. She had heard him talking to Sasuke, earlier. Why wasn't he talking to _her_? She tightened her grip on Naruto's hand, worried that he'd slip away if she didn't.

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked. "Where are we going?"

"To see Kakashi." Sakura stopped, spying Zabuza in the distance. "Actually, we're going to say thank you to Zabuza and Haku first." She whirled around, facing the boys. "And don't say anything but 'thank you!'"

In their thirteen days of D-Rank missions, they had delivered groceries, during which Sasuke had stared at the woman's ample frame, then disdainfully eyed the bag of cookies they were delivering. The client had definitely noticed.

They had caught that cat, and Naruto had hissed at it for at least a minute while the Lady of Fire's eyebrows crept closer and closer to her hairline.

When they babysat a birthday party of five-year old children, Kakashi had asked one mother which one was the target, prompting a horrified look that he had not understood, even when Sakura explained.

Sakura was pretty much the only person on Team 7 with social skills.

There were at least five ANBU standing around Zabuza acting all casual, like they just happened to be in that area, looking at the trees.

Zabuza was talking to Ino's dad. They watched Sakura approach and got really quiet when she was close enough to hear. Had they been talking about her? Sakura shook off the nagging suspicion and tugged Sasuke a little closer. He kept straying. He needed to not do that.

"Zabuza! Haku!" she greeted them. "...and Ino's dad." She accompanied the moniker with a sweet smile.

Sakura let go of Sasuke and Naruto's wrists and bowed, hoping the boys would follow suit. "Thank you for all your help," she said, pleased by the softly muttered echoes at her sides.

"I believe we benefited equally," Zabuza replied. "So I thank you in return."

He nudged Haku forward and they had an entire conversation with their eyes. Haku frowned and looked away, only to be poked again.

Haku sighed and bowed. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sakura." Haku straightened, and looked at Zabuza with a slightly quirked eyebrow, as if to say, _satisfied?_

Zabuza was watching her a little too intently.

"Um. You as well?" Sakura offered. Haku hadn't exactly spoken to her at any point. She wasn't sure they even qualified as having met. And what were her teammates? Chopped liver?

Zabuza's shoulders slumped. "I suppose it's just not meant to be."

Inoichi snickered and Sakura was certain that she'd missed something.

"Could you direct us to the medic nin's tent?" she asked. "Kurenai said it was on the west side..."

"Next row over. It takes up the entire row, you can't miss it," Inoichi answered. "You wouldn't be thinking of finding Kakashi in there, would you?"

"Well, no," Sakura replied, pretending she'd only just thought of it.

"Though if you wanted to tell us where he is," Sasuke added, "we could certainly visit once we are done."

"Do you think we should?" Naruto asked innocently—he was actually really good at that.

"I don't think he's being allowed visitors," Inoichi said, peering into the deepening gloom. There were a lot of people dressed in regulation uniforms, coming in from the forest. Some of them were wearing bandages, but most weren't.

"Why don't I accompany you? In case you get lost, you understand."

Foiled.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until the medic started alternately scolding Inoichi and her that Sakura realized she was hurt. It was mostly just scratches and bruises, but the cuts on her wrists were infected and she'd cracked three ribs at some point. She didn't really feel it.<p>

"Are Naruto and Sasuke all right?" she interrupted, bored by the medic nin's ranting. He couldn't be a very good medic if he got all hysterical over such tiny injuries.

He snapped his mouth shut and glared at her.

Sakura stared at his nose to keep from looking at his eyes.

The medic huffed, stomping over to the corner where Sasuke and Naruto were sitting, whispering to each other. Naruto looked more interested in the world, Sakura noted, pleased.

They were in a big room filled with chairs, a few bored looking ninja scattered here and there. The tent extended both north and south in long corridors, lined with narrow beds that were mostly empty.

Sakura took advantage of the medic's distraction to wander toward the south wing, peering down the rows of beds for Kakashi. They must have put him in here somewhere.

Inoichi cleared his throat.

Sakura ignored him. If he wasn't actively going to stop her, it was like he was giving permission.

There were only four filled beds to the south, and none of them held Kakashi. Three of the ninja were asleep, and the fourth was obviously bored out of her mind if she was reading _Unabridged Codes and Ciphers_willingly. Sakura had read it for extra credit in the Academy and the monstrous tome had been the greatest defence against insomnia that she had ever found.

"Sakura?"

She shrugged out from under Inoichi's hand. "Yes?"

"Kakashi is fine, I promise. Sit down and let the medics take care of you."

Sakura looked past him, toward the north wing. There were around twenty people there, most with IVs hanging by their beds. Maybe they were keeping the really sick people over there? "That guy—"

Inoichi sighed. "Jiro?"

"Yeah, him. He said I was fine. Didn't you hear?" She squinted, looking for grey hair. It was hard to see from this distance—the medic nin tent was huge.

"Did you miss the part about cracked ribs, malnutrition, worms, chakra depletion, infections, open sores, frostbite, and minor internal bleeding?" Inoichi asked her. "Or was it just me who heard that?"

She refused to think about it.

"Pfft. Whatever happened to confidentiality?" Sakura asked, strolling toward Sasuke and Naruto. If they happened to be sitting by the north wing, that was just coincidence. "He said they'd give me medication or something and I'd get better. I'm _fine_. I mean, I'd kill for some lip chap, but other than that, I'm doing great."

A silver-haired medic bumped into her, nearly knocking her over. Sakura muttered an apology, ignoring how little force had been involved in nearly knocking her over.

"If you want confidentiality, get promoted. It doesn't apply to genin," Inoichi said. "And you are not fine."

"Sasuke. Naruto." Sakura nodded in greeting, breezing past the worrywart medic. "Anything interesting wrong with you?"

"Miss, will you please sit down?" The medic again, Jiro or whatever. He should really give up. Sakura wasn't going to rest until she was _certain _that Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke were okay.

"No." Sakura crossed her arms across her chest and glared back. "So? What's wrong with my teammates?"

"Much the same as you, though they are somewhat better healed and _significantly _more cooperative."

Geez, what a dick. "And by 'much the same' you are referring to...?"

"Internal parasites, infections, abrasions, cuts, malnutrition, bruises, and a multitude of fresh scars."

Sakura hummed critically. "And what are you doing about that?" He had better fix them quick. Those injuries sounded nasty.

"The same damn things I'd do for you if you'd sit down and accept treatment," Jiro growled. He reached out like he was going to grab her and Sakura skittered away.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked, shifting until she could see past him and into the north wing of the tent, searching for grey hair. "You're getting all red in the face."

"Sakura!" Inoichi snapped. "Settle down!"

She twitched, meeting his eyes. They were like Ino's, near black around the edges and turning to bright, lively blue in the centre. Even though it looked like his eyes had no pupils, it was more accurate to say they had minuscule irises. An old mutation had left the Yamanakas with huge (blue) pupils and fantastic night vision.

Sakura couldn't look away, even though her hands were twitching, fingers tightening to spears, hooking, ripping. Again and again, watching Daiki scream under her, beg pitifully until she _killed _him.

"I see..." he said.

_You won't if I take your eyes_. Sakura buried the thought frantically, sickened and repulsed but _wanting_ to do it._  
><em>  
>Fuck, she was going crazy. There was something wrong with her and she was nuts and there were <em>worms inside of her<em>.

"You aren't going crazy," Inoichi said. "Kakashi used the sharin—"

The ground pitched and rolled. An alarm sounded from the north wing, high pitched beeping that sent the medics scurrying.

Every drop of warmth drained from her, pouring from Sakura's body into the dark cold earth below in a really half-assed burial.

Sakura fell to her knees, a high pitched whine sliding through gritted teeth. It felt like her soul was being ripped out, leaving her desiccated and hollow.

"Sakura!" Sasuke called out, his hand reaching toward her.

_Can't talk now, too busy dying_, she thought, displeased that the first time Sasuke bothered to show that he cared was occurring a) as she died, and b) without Ino around to witness it. _  
><em>  
>Damn it.<p>

* * *

><p>She woke up in one of the narrow beds, alerted by something indefinable. A needle was stuck in the back of her hand, attached to clear tubing that led to an equally clear bag of fluid, hanging from a gleaming metal pole. They'd wrapped her wrists up, and they felt hot and itchy under the gauze.<p>

Sasuke and Naruto were asleep beside her, their soft breathing nearer to her than usual, but still familiar enough that it could not have caused the strange unease she felt.

The lanterns were turned down, swinging gently as the tent moved in the night breeze. Frogs croaked enthusiastically, and tree leaves rustled. Neither sound had woken her.

Sakura sat up, ignoring the dizzy rush her body insisted on, and looked around. It was quiet. _Too quiet_, she thought mockingly, rolling her eyes. There were at least thirty ninja in the tent. It was highly unlikely that she'd sensed something that they hadn't.

Something moved. Sakura muffled a gasp, jerking her feet off the floor, her childhood fear of monsters suddenly revisited in detail.

There was a low chuckle, and a shape stepped out of the shadows. A Konoha headband and wire-rimmed glasses gleamed in the lantern light, reassuringly familiar and not-monster-like. It was only the medic nin she'd bumped into earlier. "Awake already Miss Sakura?"

Sakura smiled tentatively, licking her lips. They didn't bleed for once, but they did taste (and feel) like someone had slathered petroleum jelly on them. "What happened?"

"You collapsed. It was very dramatic." He chuckled again, pushing his glasses higher up his nose.

"Oh." Embarrassing. "What time is it?"

"Four in the morning. Did something wake you?"

Sakura nodded, raking the grease off her lips with her teeth. They felt sticky. It was gross. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Since about eight, I suppose."

Eight hours. She probably was just done sleeping, then. "Okay. What are you doing?" Sakura yawned, hiding it behind her hand. For being done with sleep, she was remarkably tired.

"Hmmm, me? Just doing rounds." His glasses glinted in the lamp light, startlingly shiny. "Are you going back to sleep?"

Sakura yawned again, scratching at the needle in her arm. If she took it out, would he notice? "Maybe. I'm tired."

He hummed approvingly, sinking into the shadows.

Black stars were falling from the lanterns, slow like autumn leaves dropping from dying trees. Sakura blinked. The stars swayed, dancing to the music of frogs.

She really was tired.

Suspiciously tired. And lanterns didn't shed stars.

"Kai!"

It was brighter, for one. For two? What the fuck was that medic doing with Sasuke?

"Hey!" Sakura scrambled out of bed, jerking the IV needle from her wrist. "What are you doing?"

"You should have gone to sleep." He sounded gently amused as he gathered Sasuke in his arms.

"What are you doing?" she snarled again. No one was waking up. A tent full of fucking ninja and not a single one was waking up.

"I'm taking Sasuke to his rightful owner." The medic nin sighed and shook his head sadly. "I suppose I'll have to kill you now, though. Pity."

Sakura bared her teeth and grabbed the IV pole. It was light, hollow inside, and lacked a single sharp edge. She deeply regretted letting them take her dagger.

"Really? You think you can...?" He chuckled, shaking his head, but set Sasuke down, stroking his hair affectionately.

_Pervert_, Sakura thought, cementing her resolve. If she didn't succeed...she narrowed her eyes, an old extra credit assignment coming to mind. _  
><em>  
>Area genjutsu, those used to affect multiple targets, were incredibly draining, and the chakra needed increased with both distance and number of targets. The medic had cast one over at least thirty people in the tent...but what about outside?<p>

He shook his head again, drawing a scalpel. "Really Miss Sakura—"

She screamed, "Fire!" as loud as she could and smashed the IV pole into the closest lantern. "Fire! There's a fire!" The burning wick landed on an empty bed and caught, sending flames rising lazily toward the tent wall.

The medic looked _really _surprised. She could see the edges of his eyes behind the reflected flames in his glasses, and they were grey like his hair.

Sakura smirked. Over the soft crackle of sheets turning into ash, she heard the call being taken up, the rush of footsteps.

But she wasn't done yet. "Traitor!" she screamed, loud enough that she hurt her own ears. Not a single patient stirred, still under the genjutsu. His grave was _dug_.

Sakura gasped, darting toward Sasuke, slamming the pole into the medic's head before he could take him.

"Traitor," she screamed again, yanking the top half of the rod off. The part where the two halves connected was rough-edged. It wasn't sharp in the least, but it was better than the gently rounded end on the other part.

"You really are becoming tiresome," the medic hissed, the scalpel in his hand bright and fire-lit. Smoke, thick and choking, billowed from the burning bed. The tent hadn't caught—Sakura suspected it was fire-proofed.

The scalpel was in her shoulder.

Sakura shrieked and slammed the rough edge of the pole into his face, slicing a divot of flesh from his skin.

He chuckled scornfully. "It'll take more than that to kill me, little _girl_." The waterfall of bright blood stopped, the wound sealing and healing in an instant. "I'm going to take you apart, piece by piece." The medic drew another scalpel, sliding it into her other shoulder before she could react. "And I'm going to enjoy it."

Where were the _guards_? Sakura gasped, the smoke drawing tears to her eyes. "Fuck you!" She dropped the IV pole and jerked the scalpels from her shoulders, using them to slice his face again and again. She could feel the knives going through flesh, the tug and resistance of skin, but he didn't bleed.

"You can't—"

Sakura braced the scalpels against her palms and jammed them up through his eyes, past the resistance of bone and into his brain.

He grabbed her wrists, and yanked her hands away. The scalpels quivered, and his eyes stared blindly at her, the hilts protruding from the pale skin under his eyes.

The medic plucked one blade out, dabbing his sleeve at the hole.

"You can't kill me." He drew the second scalpel out, and adjusted his glasses. A few droplets of blood marred the polished lenses.

Sakura swore. "I'm not going to let you take Sasuke, and neither will anyone else." If she could wait him out, someone _would _come.

"You don't have any choice. He is bought and paid for. You are harbouring stolen property."

"And you're lingering in a burning hospital tent while an entire fucking army gathers outside, asshole!" Sakura coughed, her eyes and throat burning. Whatever they'd made the blankets out of, it was not burning cleanly.

"Would you like to know a secret?" the medic whispered, smiling genially. "I expanded the genjutsu. There are fifty people asleep out there, and more joining them every minute. It's just you and me, Miss Sakura."

Shit. She was going to die.

"And us, I'm afraid."

A wave of water doused the burning bed, sending a cloying cloud of smoke and smouldering ash spraying outward, splattering on the medic's uniform.

Itachi waved the smoke from his face. "Tell me. What was it you said about Sasuke?" he asked the medic, strolling closer.

"He said he was going to take Sasuke to his rightful owner, and that Sasuke was property, and he touched Sasuke like he _liked_him," Sakura said, just in case Itachi had missed some part of the whole exchange. She gasped, catching her breath and put pressure on the holes in her shoulders. They hurt a lot more now, compared to when they happened.

"He _what_?" Itachi's pleasant tenor dropped to a furious growl, his eyes lighting up like red lanterns. Sakura hadn't known that eyes could glow.

Blue Man laughed as the medic burst into purple-black flames that cast no light. "Playing with your new trick, Itachi?"

Itachi didn't respond.

"You think you can kill me with flame?" the medic asked Itachi. He lifted his hand to show burnt skin sliding off, fresh, whole skin underneath. The fire crawled over his wrist, leaving charcoal and brilliant red in its wake.

Sakura slunk back toward Sasuke and checked his pulse, just in case. He'd been really...limp. And useless. He damn well better be impressed that she rescued him.

His heart beat slowly, but strong. Sakura sighed with relief, then checked on Naruto.

Naruto snorted and rolled over before she could take his pulse, so Sakura figured he was alive. There was really a lot of blood soaking the front of her borrowed shirt, she noticed, crawling back onto her bed. If Itachi and Blue Man decided to try and kill them, then she was just going to let them.

"Can you heal your lungs as quickly?" Itachi asked, and the medic made a muffled sound. "It's a very interesting trick you have. Tell me. Does it take much chakra?"

She wadded up the sheet and pressed it against her shoulders. The acrid scent of burning cloth was slowly being replaced with the smell of burning meat. The medic's hair was gone, and his face was pitted and melted looking. The wires of his glasses melted through, the scorched lenses clattering to the ground.

His skin shifted like snakes, healing and burning, healing and burning.

Sakura swallowed and looked away. He didn't have any eyes, they were burnt and gone.

Her head felt like it was going to float away.

Sasuke stirred, rolling over. Three beds over, a woman yawned and stretched.

"You're losing control of the genjutsu," Itachi observed. "Are you running out of chakra? Or is the pain getting to you?"

The medic laughed and it was a horrible broken crackle. Sakura pulled her knees to her chest and closed her eyes. He was a bad man, a traitor, and he'd tried to take Sasuke away from her. He deserved this.

The tent smelled awful. Sakura coughed and it made her whimper, because who knew being cut could hurt so bad? Actually, it was kind of weird that she was in so much pain. She'd been hurt a lot when Gato had them, but it had never been quite as agonizing as the wounds in her shoulders.

It was probably a bad sign.

"Mr. Blue Man?" she asked, as he seemed less busy than Itachi. Her voice was blurred and far away sounding, even to her own ears.

"My name is Kisame," he said, the deep rumble of his voice changing pitches at odd intervals. She was almost certain that the problem was with her ears and not his voice.

"I'm sorry, I forgot." Sakura took a deep breath and tried not to throw up. "Did the medic drop a scalpel or possibly two?"

"Yeah." Kisame sounded amused, if nothing else. Hopefully it was a good sign.

"Could you possibly, maybe, if you didn't have anything better to do, please move it away from the human inferno?" It took her three tries to say 'inferno' right. Her tongue felt like it had been replaced with a rock. "Pretty please?"

He snorted. "You think he poisoned you?"

"Yes? Maybe something with...blood," she finished, after having forgotten the last word a couple of times. "There's lots of it on my outsides. It's supposed to be inside."

"You get cut, you bleed," Kisame said.

The bed creaked and sank down in the middle, knocking Sakura off balance and into a really broad back. The movement was not good. Really, truly, deeply not good.

Sakura let go of the sheet and puked over the side of the bed.

"Ugh." Kisame sounded disgusted. She hoped she hadn't hit him.

"Sorry?"

"I liked these sandals," he answered, sounding resigned, not pissed. "I found your scalpels, put them over by the head of your bed. It's probably just blood loss, though."

"Medic nins play with poison," Sakura said, reciting part of an Academy rhyme. She dropped her head against the bed and moaned, feeling utterly miserable.

"Yeah, but not on medical instruments." Rough hands shoved her on her back and pressed a new sheet against her cuts, much harder than she'd managed.

Sakura whined low in her throat, blood-slick hands grabbing at Kisame's wrists.

"He nicked an artery or two here. Without pressure, you're going to bleed out damn quick." Kisame paused, looked over his shoulder.

Itachi was talking again. "I'm impressed by your desire to live. Did you know that this jutsu causes an eternal flame? Even if I die, you'll still burn. It won't spread, won't leave, won't do anything but burn you. Forever. Why don't you let your jutsu end? The pain will stop, I promise."

"Another medic would be able to fix you up, pretty quick," Kisame continued. "Even if there was poison."

Sakura blinked and tears dripped down her face. Damn it. He was going to think she was some kind of weakling. "m sorry. It hurts," she tried to explain.

Kisame nodded. Up close, he kinda looked like a shark. "Being cut does. You'll get used to it."

She shook her head, glad for the distraction of talking. "Nope. I'm gonna retire. Become a watchmaker like my dad, or maybe an accountant like mom. Imma have a ton of dogs, too."

"Eh?" He seemed surprised. "Retire? You're what, twelve?"

"I might be thirteen. What month is it?"

"October."

"Nope, I'm still twelve. It seemed longer," she said, yawning. "Does this feel really surreal to you? Or is it just me?"

Kisame grinned at her. His teeth were really big. "Yeah, well—"

Someone yelled, "Fire!"

The faint crackle of flames died down. "Very good," Itachi said to the medic. "I think you've made the right choice."

"He dead?" Kisame asked.

The other patients started to stir, most of them coughing.

"He's ashes," Itachi said with satisfaction. "Sakura? When they question you, please mention that he worked for Orochimaru."

"Okay." Sakura felt fuzzy. Like a bear.

People started rushing into the tent, shouting really loud.

"That's our cue to leave. Think about staying in the business, kid. You're going to be a good fight someday," Kisame told her, standing up. A moment later he and Itachi were gone, and her shoulders were merrily oozing hot blood all over the place.

For the second time in 24 hours, Sakura passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

War drums woke her, playing so fast that the beats melded together and sang out like thunder, a call to battle that rang through the fabric walls and buried its vibrations in her bones.

Sakura opened her eyes, her heart racing to the rhythm of the great drum's call.

Konoha was marching to war. This was the Battle Hymn of the Trees, the anthem of Konoha. She had never heard it before because the song was reserved for the march to battle, but Sakura knew it like she knew her name—this song could be nothing else.

"Sakura!" Naruto called, hurrying toward her bed. "You're awake!"

She struggled to sit up and nodded, searching for Sasuke. He was on her other side, exactly as he should be.

"Help me up?" she asked hoarsely, holding her hands out to Naruto. There were scorch marks and missing beds further down the line. Last night had not been a dream.

Naruto beamed and bounded toward her, lifting Sakura to her feet. Her shoulders throbbed, but offered no other protest. They were wrapped in bandages and hard to move.

She wobbled, then grabbed the IV pole for balance. They'd stuck another needle and tube in her, taped to her other hand this time. Her left was wrapped in yet more bandages.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said, waving him closer. "Come here!"

He scowled, but came closer. "What?"

"Have you found Kakashi yet?"

"Is he missing?" Sasuke asked. The three of them huddled together, close enough to speak without yelling.

"Did they let you see him?"

Naruto tugged on her sleeve. "When I asked they said he was resting."

The drums slowed and the great drum pounded out a steady rhythm, hundreds of voices rising into song.

Sakura shivered, her hair standing on end. It was unearthly. Kakashi sure as hell wasn't resting through this. "As if he could right now."

"Do you think this is the Battle Hymn?" Sasuke asked. His eyes shone and sparkled in the fabric-filtered sunlight.

Her entire body sang with the glory of it. "What else could it be?" she answered.

"The what?" Naruto cut in.

"We'll explain later," Sakura said. She checked for guards but the tent was almost empty, except for a few patients. "Come on. This is our best opportunity to find him."

"Should we? What if he's..." Sasuke shook his head. "There must be a reason they won't let us see him."

"Because they're stupid?" Naruto suggested, shoving Sasuke. "Come on, Sakura's right! We've got to find him."

Sakura grinned. "Damn straight!"

"I don't think—"

"Come on! They don't even have anyone in here to stop us," Sakura wheedled. She'd do it by herself, but what if someone tried to kidnap Sasuke while she was gone? She needed to keep him close.

"That's practically giving us permission," Naruto pointed out, bouncing on his toes. "Come on!"

"Fine." Sauke crossed his arms over his chest. "But I'm only coming to keep you out of trouble."

Sakura beamed, peeling the tape from her wrist and pulling out the needle. It only bled a little. She tied the tubing to the top of the pole so it wouldn't drip and grabbed her teammates' wrists, dragging them deeper into the hospital wing. There were _hundreds_ of beds to check. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Kakashi was easy to find. He'd been at the very end of the hall, tucked under white sheets, tubes, and wires. He had more stuff strapped to him than anyone else in the wing, but it didn't seem to be helping at all. He looked horrible.<p>

Naruto's hand clutched hers. "Is he dead?" he whispered, barely audible under the drumbeat.

Sasuke reached around her and poked him, hard. "If he was dead he wouldn't be in a bed, doofus."

It wasn't fair. It just _wasn't. _He was supposed to be awake and reading his stupid book. Kakashi would see them coming and he'd say something, anything, but it would make her feel better, less hollow.

He was supposed to tell her what to do now that they were safe. Maybe even tell her who Konoha was fighting, because she still didn't have a clue what this war was about.

The war drums pounded, shaking the ground. Legend said the song had begun during the first war with Earth Country, as a way to disorient the ninja hiding underground.

"Why isn't he awake then?" Naruto shot back, rubbing his arm. "The drums could wake the dead!"

"Maybe they gave him drugs or something," Sasuke sniped.

His skin was colorless, like he'd been cut from paper.

Sakura bit her lip, pressing down until the biggest cracks split and bled. He'd been sick and unresponsive for months. Or weeks. She didn't really trust her sense of time if it was only October.

"Why would they give him drugs?"

"Because he's sick, duh," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes.

She'd fed him. Given him water. Kept him clean—he'd usually roused enough to use the bucket if she dragged it over, but sometimes he hadn't. Sakura grimaced and pushed the memories away. She was never going to let anyone know about that. Ever. Planned to forget about it as quickly as possible.

Naruto stared at Kakashi, rubbing his fingers over his chin. "If he's sick...why don't they fix him?"

It hadn't really worked. Kakashi had just gotten more tired, less likely to wake up, no matter how hard she tried to take care of him. Sakura had just...let herself believe. Let herself imagine that once she got him home, someone would wave their hand and presto, he'd be better.

"Maybe he just needs rest," Sasuke suggested.

Sakura's eyes prickled, threatening her with yet more tears. Wasn't the hard part supposed to be _over_? Why hadn't they fixed him?

"But he got lots of rest when we were down there. If he needed rest, he'd be better by now," Naruto said. His voice cracked.

"He wasn't—he was awake yesterday," she said. It didn't make sense. When she'd taken the chains off, Kakashi had looked so much more alive.

He hadn't woken, though.

"Kakashi woke up most days, right?" Naruto asked. "Why wouldn't he...?"

She shook her head. "No, he didn't." Sakura didn't look at her teammates. "Kakashi woke, like, once in a blue moon."

"But he..." Naruto trailed off. She'd confused him. He hadn't figured it out yet.

"Sakura?" Sasuke's fingers tightened around her palm. "All those times when you said he told you to tell us stuff—did he say anyof it? Was he _ever_ awake?"

"Of course he was!" Naruto jumped to her defence. "Right, Sakura?"

She sniffed, her nose running. "I thought you were going to get yourselves killed, trying to escape," she said, speaking to both of them. "As it turns out, though, it wasn't that hard." A tear dripped down her cheek for the wasted opportunities when she'd said '_don't'_, the times when she'd said, '_Kakashi says_.'

"He wasn't waking up. He just wasn't. And then you tried to run, Naruto, and they kept hitting you and hitting you! I just couldn't stand it." They could have escaped at anytime. It had been _easy_. "We could have escaped so much sooner. I'm so _sorry_."

Naruto hugged her, awkward and too hard, like he'd never gotten the hang of hugs. "When I tried, there were, like, thirty guards upstairs. We never would have made it."

Sasuke grunted, but laced his fingers between hers. "He probably would have gotten himself killed if you hadn't. Naruto's an idiot."

"You're an idiot, idiot!" Naruto barked back, right in her ear.

She disentangled herself and left them to fight, her stomach rolling. Kakashi looked dead.

"The numbers don't lie, dead last."

The drums rolled, rising thunder. Someone started the solo, a deep baritone that matched the drums.

"Those tests were stupid!" Naruto protested. "Who needs to know that stuff?"

_"We bring death!_" The chorus howled. _  
><em>  
>She knelt by Kakashi's bed, the strength that had kept her going draining out.<p>

"Oh, I don't know. Ninja?" Sasuke suggested. He was being mean, Sakura thought. She should stop him.

_"To those that oppose us!"_

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against the cool metal bars of the bed frame. She was tired.

_"We bring life!"_

She couldn't even see if he was breathing. What if the medics had gone off to sing and drum and forgotten him, and Kakashi had died? What if this was just his body?

_"To those we love!"_

Sakura pressed two fingers against his wrist, sneaking them through the maze of tubes and wires. His pulse was hard to find, weak and fast.

"Is he okay?" Naruto asked.

She nodded, wiping her face on her sleeve. Kakashi wasn't hot, wasn't cold. His fever had broken. "He's alive," she said.

Sasuke and Naruto were quiet, meaning that they were getting upset. She needed to take them away. Let Kakashi rest.

* * *

><p>The drums were gone. Quieted. People were returning, bustling through the hallway with clipboards and carts and trays. Sakura watched, disinterested. Naruto and Sasuke squabbled beside her, reassuringly present, annoyingly loud.<p>

Her shoulders ached and hurt when she tried to move, so Sakura didn't. It was easier not to, anyway.

"Sakura Haruno?"

She buried her head in the pillow, hoping he'd just go away. Hadn't she done enough yet?

"You're requested in the interrogation tent for debriefing."

Damn it. Sakura sighed and rolled onto her back. Yep. It was an ANBU. He was wearing a cat mask with little pointed ears. She wondered if the other ANBU made fun of him for it. _He looks dumb,_ she thought spitefully.

"Can you walk?"

Sakura sighed again. "Yes," she said. "Are Sasuke and Naruto coming with me?"

"No."

She felt a twinge of worry. "Will someone be guarding them?" What if someone came after Sasuke? Or Naruto?

"We don't need to be guarded!" Naruto protested. "Right Sasuke?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, shutting up as soon as he had to talk to someone other than Naruto.

"Yes you do," Sakura replied, too busy watching the ANBU for hints of body language to look at them.

"Why would they need to be guarded?" The ANBU was like a brick wall. Not a single hint of anything.

"Because the medic who was working for Orochimaru—" she sounded the name out carefully, exactly as Itachi had said it, "—might not have been working alone."

"The_ what_?" Did she say brick wall? Sakura meant scary wall. Holy shit, how did that stupid mask look so terrifying?

"The guy?" she offered, staring into the black eye holes. "From last night? A crazy medic tried to kidnap Sasuke, and then there was a lot of burning things...he stabbed me?"

"You were awake during the fire?"

"Someone tried to kidnap me?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes?" Sakura sat very still, hoping the scary ANBU would either stop being so scary or go away.

"Get up. You're going to interrogation." When she hesitated, he picked her up.

Sakura yelped, punching at the scary mask. He moved and she missed. The ANBU stared at her.

"I can walk," she whispered, too scared to look away. Her heart fluttered like a frightened rabbit's.

Cats ate rabbits. Oh gods, she was going to die—wait, no, he was putting her down.

Sakura smoothed the wrinkles in the patient's gown someone had dressed her in. It had ducks on it. Her neighbour's cat had killed a duck once.

"Walk."

"Will someone be watching over Sasuke and Naruto?" she asked again, her voice squeaking a tiny bit.

"Yes. Walk." The scary dwindled until he was just an ANBU in a silly mask again.

She nodded, finally able to look away. "Um. Walk where?" she asked.

"The interrogation tent."

Did they have a policy that demanded they say the absolute minimum number of words for every situation? "I know. Where is the interrogation tent?"

He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "Follow?"

"If you insist," Sakura muttered.

* * *

><p>"...and that's when he told me that medics don't usually poison their...instruments? I think he said instruments. And then he said that it was probably just blood loss, which seemed reasonable considering how much blood was on the sheets. Then he put pressure on the cuts until the medic stopped healing himself and died like Itachi told him to."<p>

Sakura paused to take a breath. Inoichi hadn't been in the room the ANBU had led her into. Instead there'd been guy with a lot of scars on his face, and an old guy with red stripes on his face and a _ton _of white hair. Sakura had hair envy.

"And how did you find out that Kabuto was working for Orochimaru?" the white-haired man asked her.

"Is Kabuto the medic?" she asked, shifting in her chair. It was really uncomfortable.

"Yes he was." Scarred Guy was kind of intense.

"Itachi told me. He said I had to tell people that."

"Did Kabuto appear stressed, or in a hurry?" Scarred Guy asked.

Sakura thought about it. "When? Like, when I woke up? He seemed fine, then."

"Did he say anything about a partner, or Danzo?"

"Who is Danzo?" Sakura asked. "And he didn't say anything about a partner, but I don't think he was going to just, like, disappear after he took Sasuke. He was really calm, if he was going missing nin."

"Danzo was the commander of this army," white-haired man answered. "He died last night. Are you certain Kabuto said nothing about killing him?"

"Pretty sure," Sakura said. "But we didn't have deep conversations or anything. Kabuto was really nasty, though. He totally could have."

"Alright." He stood up and started pacing. "You still don't know what woke you up?"

Sakura tapped her feet restlessly. "I dunno. I woke up feeling worried, so maybe it was a bad dream? He must not have cast the genjutsu then."

"And you threw off the genjutsu by...?"

"Using Kai." They seemed really hung up on that. This was like, the third time they'd asked her.

"Could you demonstrate?" white-haired man asked. "Just quickly, if you please."

Sakura shrugged, pressing her hands in the seal and flexing her chakra. "Kai," she said.

White-haired man's nostrils flared opened, and then his eyes narrowed, like she'd done something really interesting instead of the very first chakra exercise in the Academy. "You have the taste of Hatake chakra."

"I what?" Kakashi's last name was Hatake, right?

Sakura wiggled her tongue against the roof of her mouth, but couldn't taste anything significant. Maybe tasting chakra was a metaphor, or something. She did need to brush her teeth, though. And floss.

"It would explain why she collapsed when his heart stopped—"

"Kakashi's heart stopped? Is he okay?"

Scarred man was expressionless. "Can you describe the chains that were holding you, again?"

"They were really shiny. And heavy."

Both men looked at her. "Any other details?"

"Could you give me a hint? I mean...they were metal. Probably. And Gato said they were really expensive, and he only had three lengths, so he had them hook a set of manacles to Kakashi's chains. They, uh, put those ones on me."

"And what happened when you unlocked the chains?"

"I told you this already," she reminded them. "This is the third time." Did she need to talk slower?

"Once more, please."

"Fine. My chains got dull and the surface crumbled a bit. After I took them off, I felt a lot better." She paused, licking her lips. Her head was starting to hurt, and she was really thirsty. "Kakashi's cuffs were hard to open. They were sticky inside the hinges. I dropped them after I got them off and the entire chain crumbled into dust."

"Including the manacles that had been around your wrists?" the white-haired man asked.

"I can't remember. I...uh...I didn't want to look down." Sakura fought back a nervous giggle at the thought of the eyes. "After I got the chains off him, Kakashi started breathing more evenly—I mean, he stopped panting. I felt...something. I don't know what. It was warm. I don't know."

"Fascinating." White-haired man stood up. "Sakura, would you accompany me back to the medic nin tent?"

"You're done?" If there was a trifle too much excitement in her voice, she hoped they would ignore it. "I can leave?"

"Ibiki, get one of the Hyuuga. We'll be needing their eyes." Sakura's hair prickled, standing on end.

"Does this have something to do with Kakashi?" she asked, hoping someone would respond for once. "Is he okay?"

"Perhaps." He tugged open the ties on the door flap and held it open. Sunlight streamed in, and his face lost its intent, sharp-eyed expression. He didn't look as smart, or as alert. "Are you coming?" White-haired man's voice had picked up an indefinable accent, his words slightly blurred.

Sakura slid off the edge of the chair and to the ground. Her legs had fallen asleep and the prickles of waking were vaguely painful. "Yeah, okay."

* * *

><p>"Sit still," the old man—the medics had called him Jiraiya—had said, pointing at the empty bed beside Kakashi's. "We're going to try something." He'd drawn a bunch of lines on her forehead, and on her palms, then drew something else on Kakashi's chest. Sakura had watched warily, not quite trusting him, but nothing had happened until he'd stood back and clapped his hands.<p>

Try something apparently meant hurt you.

Her skin shivered, shoestrings dragged out from under it. Sakura touched her chest, looking for the ropes being torn from her bones, but there was nothing to show for the pain.

"Lie still," someone ordered her again.

Sakura did her best to hold motionless, but couldn't stop twitching. "What are you doing?" she asked, but they did not reply.

Her leg jerked, closely followed by her hand. Sakura grit her teeth and grabbed on to the side bars. Her face twisted, lips curling into a mad smile that she didn't intend or feel. Sakura thought she heard the medics talking, but could not understand the words.

The wounds in her shoulders opened, pouring hot and wet behind the bandages. A choked cry tore free from her throat, but no one heard. No one cared. Sakura could see them, clustered around Kakashi's bed, their backs turned to her.

Her teeth chattered, and Sakura's back tightened, her body contorting in tense, painful poses. The bleeding quickened, flooding out with the chakra—it had to be her chakra they were taking—and draining her like a bathtub.

She bit her tongue, a bright startling pain, and tasted blood. The muscles in her chest had locked up, and she couldn't breathe, couldn't cry out.

Sakura's eyes were as wide as they would go, and she could not close them, stuck staring at the backs of the medics and hoping they'd notice her and stop.

It was like they dropped her into deep, cold water: distorted vision, distant sounds—yelling, someone was yelling—and she couldn't _breathe_.

The pain stopped. Sakura sucked in a shallow breath, then another, blinking away the darkness that had claimed her eyes.

"You're _killing _her!" Naruto had a powerful set of lungs, Sakura decided, her returning hearing ringing from the sound of his voice. "Stop it!"

"Do you want your teacher awake or not?" the white-haired man snapped at him.

"Of course I do! That doesn't mean I want Sakura dead!"

She could see them now. Naruto and Sasuke stood between her and Jiraiya, side by side and bristling with anger. It made Sakura feel safe, even though she thought she might be bleeding to death. The duck gown was definitely ruined.

"She won't die from this. The chakra she's been using isn't hers. The seal is just returning it to its rightful owner."

He made her sound like a thief. Sakura hadn't taken anyone's chakra, much less Kakashi's. Or if she had, she hadn't meant to.

Damn it, it was probably true. Sakura felt like hitting someone. It figured. The first time she managed to do anything important, it was with someone else's power.

"No," Sasuke said flatly. He sounded emotionless, but she could see the tremors in his hands. He was upset. "You're stealing _her _chakra."

"Look, kid, I appreciate that you're trying to protect her, but you don't need to. I know what I'm doing. She isn't in pain."

It made her giggle, then choke on the blood in her mouth. "Doen't 'urt?" she laughed, saliva and blood dribbling over her chin. "Is _peashy._Fuggen grade! Gibe me sum more."

She may need to work on the talking thing.

"What are you—" He leaned over, peering over the barrier of Naruto and Sasuke's bodies. He said a very nasty curse, and then called for a medic.

"We've almost got him awake," someone called. "Could you restart it?"

Sakura groaned. It wasn't like she wouldn't let them do it again, if it would wake up Kakashi, but she really didn't want to.

"No. I...ah." Jiraiya scratched the back of his head and smiled, showing too many teeth and squinting his eyes almost shut. "I appear to have made a mistake. She...ah...was not, in fact, leeching Kakashi's chakra. Also, she now needs a medic."

"I told you so," Sasuke muttered, brushing his fingers over her hand. Sakura grinned, her eyelids drooping. She couldn't wait to tell Ino.

Someone pushed Sasuke and Naruto away and started pressing really hard on her shoulders. It was getting to be familiar.

"Jiraiya? I was told you require my assistance?"

Through the people around her (there were a lot more now, all of them wearing medic uniforms) Sakura spied Hinata's dad. It took her a couple of seconds to recognize him, but she was almost sure...

* * *

><p>The passing out thing was not cool. It made your head feel like someone had used it as a punching bag, and dumped a bucket of sand in your mouth for good measure. Sakura was deeply unimpressed.<p>

She wiggled her fingers, testing to see if they hurt. They didn't, but her shoulders ached, in a dim, distant sort of way. From the way her skin tightened and pulled, she thought there might be a needle in her hand, again.

"Are you awake?"

Sakura frowned and opened her eyes. It was dark, and someone had leaned their crutches against her bed, right in front of her face.

"Yes?" she guessed. Her tongue felt stiff, and she could feel a smooth line down the side where she was missing taste buds. She folded her tongue, worrying at the smoothness. They must have healed her.

"That's good." The speaker was amused. She couldn't see him because of the crutches, but his voice sounded familiar. Really familiar. "Do you want something to drink?"

That sounded like a lot of effort. On the other hand, she was thirsty. Sakura sighed pensively. "I dunno," she said, yawning. "Easy water?"

"Hmm?"

"I can have easy water? It sounds hard," she clarified.

They'd put her in a new patient's gown. It had puppies frolicking with butterflies on it. "I want a puppy," she informed the stranger, lifting the collar so she could see more cartoon dogs. "A big one. Not a big puppy though. I want...little puppy, big dog." She nodded, pleased that she'd explained herself.

The stranger laughed quietly. "Don't we all?" She heard water pouring, from somewhere by her stranger. She felt oddly possessive of him. "If I help you up, will water be easy?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "I think I'd like a black one. He could have spots, though. Like the fluffy ones at mountain shrines."

Her stranger wiggled a hand behind her back and lifted her, just long enough to tuck some thin pillows behind her. Sakura blinked for too long and missed her chance to see his face. "Are we still talking about dogs?"

"Not dog yet. Puppy." She was still in the hospital tent, though there were a lot fewer beds. All the ones without people were gone. "I'd name him..." Sakura closed her eyes, giving in to the leaden weights that her eyelashes had become. "Why are all the beds gone?"

"They're packing up. The war is over."

A glass pressed against her lips, slowly rising until she could sip at it. Sakura did, deciding that this was sufficiently easy to be worth the effort. It was really good water.

He took the glass away, and dried a trickle that had fallen down her chin. "No more for now. The medics said you might be sick."

"Why was there a war?" she asked him, dragging her sheet higher. It was cold in the tent. She could hear rain pattering against the sides.

"Hmmm. Something about Gato attempting to sell Konoha ninja into slavery. I'll admit I wasn't paying much attention, but Wave Country has officially been annexed to Fire Country as of this evening." Stranger paused, then continued. "Gato's band of missing nin and ronin were put to death, excluding Zabuza for some reason."

"Zabuza was nice," Sakura said. A thought distracted her. "Fire-Wave Country?" she asked, giggling. It sounded silly. "Wave was a dumb country anyway. Very dark and smelly."

"I'm not sure a root cellar converted into a prison is the best place to base your judgement of a country on."

"Meh. It's dark right now." It didn't smell too bad, though.

"True." He sighed. "I never much liked Wave, either. Too rainy."

"Only baby trees," she agreed.

"Terrible food."

"Ugly people."

"They're mean, too. Trying to sell us into slavery, I mean really. Who does that?"

"Gato," Sakura answered. Something about his last sentence confused her. She couldn't put her finger on it, though. "He won't anymore, though."

"I heard."

"Yeah?" Sakura dragged one of the pillows from behind her and hugged it to her chest, ignoring the stretch and pull of her shoulders. She was temporarily distracted by the puppies on her arms. They were so cute!

"Yeah. You did good work."

Sakura pouted. "Old guy said I had Kakashi's chakra. Means it wasn't really me," she complained. "Sucks. I wanted to be a hero, too."

Her stranger went quiet for a couple of moments. "I was informed that it was quite the opposite."

She tucked the pillow under her chin. "He had my chakra?"

"Yes. The chains formed a link, which persisted for a while." Fabric rustled. "How do you feel? Jiraiya nearly drained you dry."

"I'm fine. Feel good, really. Do you think they'll let me see Kakashi tomorrow?" she asked.

He didn't respond. Stranger was probably bored of talking to her.

"Miss him," she muttered. "People keep saying he's fine, but I think they may be lying."

"Are you having trouble seeing?" Stranger asked. He took her hand, gingerly, like he thought she might break. There were bandages on his wrists, too.

Heh, bandage buddies.

Sakura peered through the crutches at the man in the bed next to hers. His patient gown had penguins on it, he was wearing a surgical mask, and his red eye was covered up by white-coloured cloth. "Kakashi?" she asked, wondering if she was dreaming.

"Who did you think I was?" he answered, raising his eyebrow.

"I thought...stranger. I dunno. You sounded like a good person..." Sakura's brain caught up with the action. "Kakashi!"

"Shhh! People are sleeping."

Sakura grinned until her cheeks hurt. "You're awake!" She struggled to sit up, scrambling for the edge of the bed. "You're alive _and _awake."

"You're supposed to stay in bed," he warned her, whispering. Kakashi glanced down the scattered rows of beds. "I'm not kidding. The medics were very, uh, _clear._ As was ANBU. And the Interrogation Squad. They said something about you lighting the hospital on fire?"

Awake! She beamed, too happy to really hear him. They'd raised her bed rails, but Sakura was a ninja. Half-foot rails were no match for ninja-ness!

"Shit, you're going to rip your stitches—" Kakashi stood up, like he was trying to grab her and Sakura gladly fell into him, knocking them both onto his bed. She knocked over his crutches and her IV pole, too, and they made a lot of noise when they hit the ground. "Sakura?"

She sniffed, clinging tight. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?"

"Fantabulous." She squeezed him, pressing her ear against his chest. Kakashi's heart beat was slow and strong and he was _awake_!

"You've got your IV line all tangled up," he scolded.

"Un-huh?" Sakura agreed sleepily. She was tired now. They'd wrapped a couple of loops of tape around her wrist and the needle, so it was probably fine, really. Unlikely to go anywhere.

"Come on, could you sit up?"

"Nope." Sakura yawned. "I'm going to sleep now."

"You're—ah...hello..." He cleared his throat. "Good evening...or morning, as the case may be."

There was someone else at the foot of the bed. "This is not your bed, Kakashi." They sounded grumpy.

"Well, you see Jiro—it is Jiro, right? I was asleep in my bed when I woke to a horrible foreboding, and I just had to investigate," Kakashi said. "It was awful."

"Just awful," Sakura added, adjusting her head so she'd drool on the sheets and not Kakashi.

"And did you find anything?" Jiro sounded like he was giving credence to Kakashi's lies, which was kind of silly of him.

"Of course. My jounin senses are never wrong," Kakashi said.

Sakura muffled her giggle.

"What did you find?" Jiro repeated. He sounded alarmed. Justifiably, given that last night the tent had nearly caught on fire. For a very good reason, but nevertheless. Fire.

Kakashi cleared his throat again. "A young lady in desperate need of a glass of water."

"You—"

"I fixed it! Don't worry. I won't even tell anyone that you failed to ensure she was well-hydrated-"

"I was so thirsty," she added mournfully.

"I see." Jiro picked up the IV pole and untangled the tube. It had been kind of twisted. "Might I ask what happened to Genma?"

"Who?" Kakashi replied. He was tense, his chest shaking a tiny bit, like he was trying not to laugh.

"That is his bed. Which he shouldn't be out of, either."

"Oh. Right. He forgot something in Wave. He went to go get it."

"The Army leaves tomorrow," Jiro said, mild interest coloring his voice.

"No better time to get it, then," Sakura pointed out.

Jiro sighed. "Reassure me. Genma isn't dead in a corner, is he?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"And neither of you are experiencing difficulty breathing, dizziness, or any other signs that you might, possibly, be dying of blood loss or chakra exhaustion?"

"Not at the moment," Sakura said, giving him a half-hearted thumbs up.

"Fuck it, then. I'm leaving you here. Try not to wake up any more patients."

Sakura held up her hand for a fist bump. Kakashi's knuckles knocked against hers. "Sleep now?" she asked.

"Gods yes. I feel like I went ten rounds with Gai." Kakashi dragged his legs onto the bed and lay back, sighing mightily. Sakura rolled onto her side, tucking herself under his arm. It was familiar and warm, even if her knees were hanging over the edge because the bed was too small.

Sakura closed her eyes, but couldn't sleep, not quite yet. "Kakashi?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm starting...okay, I'm pretty sure I totally misunderstood what you were telling me to do with the whole eye thing. What...I mean, do you remember what you said?"

Kakashi laughed quietly. "You didn't exactly go where I expected with it, no. But I think your interpretation was a much better one than mine."

"Oh." She wrapped her fingers around his thumb because she sort of needed to hold on to something.

"Inoichi said I should clarify, by the way," Kakashi added. "I used my sharingan eye when I gave you the order. You weren't going crazy, with the whole eye thing. I maybe...possibly...hypnotized you into going after eyes."

"You...?" Sakura squeezed his fingers, not really certain what she wanted to say, but seriously, deeply, totally pleased that she wasn't crazy. A little broken, maybe, but not in the way that made her want peoples' eyes. That was good. That was really good.

"Sorry," Kakashi sounded embarrassed. "From what Inoichi said, it was completely unnecessary."

"I did good?"

"You did great." He ruffled her scraggly stubble-hair. "I'm very proud of you."

She smiled, content, and fell asleep.

**The End**


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